All Things 2024-25 College Basketball D2 and D3 Thread

Ope3

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News to me, the MIAC last month announced they are adjusting their basketball format, no longer is it double round-robin (20 games for the Men). Now just a 16 game schedule.

Also double headers even during the week with the Women.


Conference coaches and administrators have also approved a shift in basketball scheduling philosophy beginning with the 2024-25 season. As part of a four-year trial, MIAC basketball teams will now play a round-and-a-half conference schedule, instead of the previous double round-robin format. The eleven MIAC men's teams will now play 16 conference games, while the 12 women's teams will play 18 conference contests. In addition, those games will be played in a doubleheader format. The men's games will be played first (5:30 p.m. on weeknights, 1 p.m. on weekends) followed by the women's games (7:30 p.m. on weeknights, 3 p.m. on weekends) for the first nine weeks of the 2024-25 season. The doubleheader order will flip on the 10th play date, with the women's games being played first followed by the men's game for the remainder of the season. For the 2025-26 season, doubleheaders will only be played on the weekend. Genders will play at opposite sites during the week, matching the previous scheduling philosophy. Tiebreakers for seeding can be found on the men's and women's playoff pages.

The reduced conference schedule is intended to provide better scheduling flexibility for teams to add quality non-conference games to match the needs of their programs, while also allowing coaches to maintain increased autonomy over their schedules. The philosophy will be assessed by coaches and administrators midway through the four-year trial.
 

In the prism of how the MIAC Basketball switch impacts me specifically, it's kind of a bummer for a couple of reasons. The first half of the season, mid-week Men's games will start at 5:30 PM, so rather tough to attend. Not that I attended many of those though.

The other thing I thought about as a Northfield townie, is what about when St Olaf & Carleton are only scheduled for 1 MIAC Conference game? Turns out this year that is the case, but the Oles will make the jaunt down the Hill and over the Cannon River to play the Knights in a Non-Conference game, on Jan 6th.


The rematch on Jan 25 at Skogland will be the one that counts in the MIAC Standings.

This maintains the same Goat rules. Carleton currently is in possession of the Trophy. For the Oles to reclaim it, they have to sweep.
 

Here's the link to the MIAC Press release about the scheduling.


Thought this was also noteworthy, cashless ticket sales going forward:

Playoff Adjustments: All playoff contests will be cashless in 2024-25 with admission conducted through HomeTown Ticketing. HomeTown Ticketing has a “HomeTown Fan” app available for download on mobile devices. Ticket prices for playoff games are set at $12 for adults and $3 for students.
 

Playing beyond their weight class here are the competitions I could find for MIAC Men's Hoops:

Exhibitions

Hamline - 10/29 vs Minnesota
Concordia - 10/30 vs North Dakota

Scrimmages

Gustavus - 10/24 vs Sioux Falls
Gustavus - 10/30 vs Concordia-St Paul
St Scholastica - 10/30 vs Bemidji St

Actual Regular Season Game

St Mary's - 11/16 vs University of Illinois Chicago
 

Carleton took a 24 point lead in to Halftime. Puget Sound must have gotten used to the time zone change and rallied to win 86-85.

Yikes.
 



Playing beyond their weight class here are the competitions I could find for MIAC Men's Hoops:

Exhibitions

Hamline - 10/29 vs Minnesota
Concordia - 10/30 vs North Dakota

Scrimmages

Gustavus - 10/24 vs Sioux Falls
Gustavus - 10/30 vs Concordia-St Paul
St Scholastica - 10/30 vs Bemidji St

Actual Regular Season Game

St Mary's - 11/16 vs University of Illinois Chicago
St Mary's (Minn) was edged by University of Illinois-Chicago. Final score of 117-59.

The hometown UIC "crowd" of 664, got their money's worth.
 


and a few MIAC Men's basketball Statistical leaders:

Scoring: Bethel 79.4 - Gustavus 79.0 - St. John's 75.2

Defense: St. John's 61.7 - Concordia 67.2 - Gustavus 69.0

Game High in Points - Bethel 108 vs Martin Luther - Gustavus 97 vs Augsburg

Individual:
scoring - Luke Harris (Carleton) 21.7 - Andy Stafford (Augsburg) 20.3 - Payton Thomsen (Bethel) 19.6

Rebounding- Jackson Loge (Concordia) 10.1 - Austin Holt (Hamline) 9.0

Game High in points- Eric Wentz (Macalester) 40 vs Grinnell - Payton Thomsen (Bethel) 32 vs Hamline - Luke Harris (Carleton) 32 vs St. John's
(Payton Thomsen also has games of 31 & 29 pts)
 





I took in my first MIAC game of the season on Saturday, actually first NCAA game of any kind.

Carleton hosted Auggies, very good crowd at West Gym even with the students on break. They honored former Head Coach Guy Kalland at Halftime and several dozen of his former players were at the game.

As for the game, Auggies rained 3s in the first half and took a 41-31 lead into the intermission. The Knights stormed back and took the lead 7 minutes into the 2nd half, and it went back and forth to the end. Auggies hit a late 3 to break the tie with 12 seconds to go.

Both teams missed some FTs down the stretch, including the Knights Luke Harris who could have sent it to OT with 0.6 on the clock. Auggies won 74-70.

On Deck for Knights are the crosstown Oles tonight also at West Gym. It's actually a Non-Conference game. All that's at stake is the Goat and civic pride. The Knight have possession. To get it back St Olaf has to win both games.
 




checked the D3 basketball polls. last poll was through Dec. 15. new polls out later this week. will post when available.

in the last poll, for the Men, UW-Platteville was #5, Stevens Point was #11 and LaCrosse was #20. St. John's was #21.

for the last women's poll, UW-Oshkosh was #5. Gustavus was #7. Whitewater #8. and the Messiah University Falcons were at #25. from Mechanicsburg, PA.
 

On Deck for Knights are the crosstown Oles tonight also at West Gym. It's actually a Non-Conference game. All that's at stake is the Goat and civic pride. The Knight have possession. To get it back St Olaf has to win both games.

Knights beat the Oles 67-58 and will retain the Goat. Good crowd in the West Gym as Carleton struggled to put St Olaf away until very late in the game.

Had a unique feel as this was a Non-Conference game.

Oles are now 1-11. Uff da.
 

Knights beat the Oles 67-58 and will retain the Goat. Good crowd in the West Gym as Carleton struggled to put St Olaf away until very late in the game.

Had a unique feel as this was a Non-Conference game.

Oles are now 1-11. Uff da.
D3 basketball:
St Olaf free throw percentage .669
St Olaf opponents free throw percentage .710
St Olaf Women's team free throw percentage .685
Gopher free throw percentage .618
 

D3 basketball:
St Olaf free throw percentage .669
St Olaf opponents free throw percentage .710
St Olaf Women's team free throw percentage .685
Gopher free throw percentage .618
The Ole men mitigate their FT shooting issues by going to the charity stripe the 10th most (out of 11) in the MIAC.

A bit on the smallish side. Also young.
 

D3 Basketball Ratings

Men:
1. UW-Platteville (Bo Ryan is pleased)
2. Emory
3. Trine
4. New York University
5. Washington University
------
11. Wisconsin Lutheran
------------
14. UW-La Crosse
15. St. John's
16. UW-Stevens Point
---
others receiving votes - UW-Oskosh

----------------------
-----------------------
D3 Women:
1. New York University
2. Illinois Wesleyan (Jack Sikma is pleased)
3. Scranton
4. UW-Oshkosh
5. Bowdoin
6. Gustavus
7. UW-Whitewater
---------
11. Wartburg
--------
others receiving votes: Coe, UW-Stout, Bethel

(I was working in Platteville when Bo Ryan was the head coach at UW-Platteville. Those were some great teams. True story - Bo Ryan and I once got into an argument after a meeting of the Platteville City Council........ I am also old enough that I saw Jack Sikma play for Illinois Wesleyan at the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City.)
 



let's check the WIAC - men's standings

2024-25 Men's Basketball Standings
SchoolWIACPct.OverallPct.HomeAwayNeutralStreak
UW-Platteville5-01.00015-1.9388-05-12-0W14
UW-La Crosse4-1.80013-3.8124-24-05-1W3
UW-Stevens Point3-2.60013-3.8127-25-01-1W2
UW-Stout3-2.6007-9.4383-33-31-3L2
UW-Eau Claire2-3.40010-6.6254-26-20-2W1
UW-Whitewater2-3.4008-8.5003-43-32-1L1
UW-River Falls1-4.2007-9.4384-53-40-0L2
UW-Oshkosh0-5.0009-7.5625-22-52-0L5


and the WIAC Women ---

2024-25 Women's Basketball Standings
SchoolWIACPct.OverallPct.HomeAwayNeutralStreak
UW-Oshkosh5-01.00016-01.00010-04-02-0W16
UW-Stout4-1.80013-3.8125-24-14-0W4
UW-Stevens Point3-2.60013-3.8125-04-24-1L1
UW-Whitewater2-3.40012-4.7506-33-13-0W1
UW-River Falls2-3.40010-6.6253-15-52-0W1
UW-Platteville2-3.4008-8.5004-23-31-3L1
UW-La Crosse1-4.2009-7.5625-22-42-1L2
UW-Eau Claire1-4.2006-10.3754-72-20-1L4
 

D3 Polls ---

Men:
1. UW-Platteville (17th votes for 1st place)
2. Emory (5)
3. Trine (2)
4. Wesleyan (1) - (in Connecticut)
5. Illinois Wesleyan
------
7. Wisconsin Lutheran
-----
10. UW-LaCrosse
-----
12. St. John's
-----
17. UW-Stevens Point

-------------------------------------------

Women:
1. New York University (24 votes for 1st place)
2. Illinois Wesleyan (1)
3. Scranton
4. UW-Oshkosh
5. Bowdoin
------
8. Gustavus
---------
12. Wartburg
--------
15. UW-Stout
------
19. UW-Whitewater
----
others receiving votes include Bethel & UW-Stevens Point
 

MIAC Men's Basketball standings

SchoolConfCPct.OverallPct.Streak
Saint John's7-01.00014-2.875W10
Gustavus7-01.00013-3.812W4
Bethel5-2.71411-5.688L1
Hamline5-2.7149-7.562W3
Augsburg4-3.5718-8.500W2
Carleton4-4.50011-6.647W2
Concordia2-5.2866-10.375L2
St. Scholastica2-5.2866-10.375L2
Macalester2-5.2865-11.312W1
Saint Mary's1-6.1435-11.312L3
St. Olaf0-7.0001-15.062L15
and the MIAC Women's basketball standings

SchoolConfCPct.OverallPct.Streak
Bethel8-01.00012-3.800W5
Gustavus7-1.87514-1.933L1
Hamline6-2.75011-4.733W4
St. Scholastica6-2.7509-6.600W2
Concordia5-3.62510-5.667W4
Saint Mary's5-3.6257-7.500W1
Saint Benedict4-4.5009-6.600L4
Macalester3-5.3758-7.533L1
St. Catherine2-6.2507-8.467L2
Augsburg1-7.1253-12.200W1
Carleton1-7.1252-13.133L4
St. Olaf0-8.0006-9.400L5

Tough year for the Oles, both teams winless. Whomever is going to get the permanent Ole AD Job will have some tough decisions to make.
 

Like to see my hometown Gusties at/ near the top of both of the standings
 

Rematch in Northfield at Skogland, the Oles came out red hot in the 1st half and were pouring in 3s to take a 35-21 lead with about 4 minutes to go in the 1st half.

The Knights rallied to tie it 35 at Halftime. The onslaught continued to start the 2nd as Carleton eventually went on a 28-2 run. St Olaf hung in there, but eventually fell 68-63.

The Goat is staying in the Knights Trophy Case.

Screenshot_20250125-205649.png
 




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